Greetings,
I searched google, and in particular this website, for countless hours yesterday and today but to no avail. I'll sketch my issue;
Preface: I'm using an MSI GX60 1AC laptop, which has an extra SSD slot.
1) I cloned my HDD with "EaseUS Todo" to my newly bought SSD (Kingston V300) after a factory reset (it all fit neatly on there, it made the SSD in two partitions similar to my HDD, and there's still plenty of rooms to install... programs. Let's be fair here and call them games and a few other programs I use often).
2) I can run windows now both from my SSD and HDD, both seem to be doing fine. The SSD is, of course, incredibly fast. So fast it has been an issue to hit the BIOS-button in time to open it (but that may have been me). A good sign! Anyway, this is not the problem on my end.
3) When I run the OS from my (internal) HDD I can see the SSD, which looks like an exact copy of my HDD (with the same files, partitions, etc.). However, when I run Win8 from my SSD (on which the clone is), I cannot see my HDD. It doesn't show up. I found installed drivers for it, but not even disk management shows it. The SSD and HDD do have different letter-assignments (A: and C: respectively). On a side note, I uninstalled the HDD driver in an attempt to fix it, but can still boot from it and it still shows up as usual... but in the configuration of the hardware list (even with "hidden devices" enabled) it doesn't show up as installed.
4) Both drives are recognized by the BIOS (this enables me to chose where to boot from, too). This makes me feel that the problematic end is on Windows itself, refusing to recognize the internal (manufactorer-installed) HDD when booting from the SSD. It's a Western Digital "Black Edition", I believe. I updated the "drivers" for my BIOS. Didn't change a thing.
All I want to do is format the pre-installed internal HDD and use it for data storage. I would have gone for a clean install of windows, but my laptop does not provide the correct product key (datamined, no sticker present) for windows 8 (or 8.1 for that matter, in fact, contrary to what I read, they are the same here). This means I cannot make a "legal" windows install disc, because windows refuses my product key.
Currently I'm trying to use a win7 or win8 install disc, possibly not procured entirely legal, just so I can run the winPE to format the old HDD. Then close it. No idea if that is going to work, but I'm running out of solutions for what seems to be a frustrating problem (recognized in BIOS but not in Windows 8).
So, where have I gone wrong? Keep in mind that cloning looked like a very interesting solution, because I couldn't access a useful windows product key to just do a clean install, which I would have much preferred. I also discovered windows internet explorer comes with its own product key. That's like a one-time key to download a different browser!
My windows 8 came pre-installed and is entirely legal. I prefer to keep it like that. All data is backed-up and/or moved to my external HDD.
I searched google, and in particular this website, for countless hours yesterday and today but to no avail. I'll sketch my issue;
Preface: I'm using an MSI GX60 1AC laptop, which has an extra SSD slot.
1) I cloned my HDD with "EaseUS Todo" to my newly bought SSD (Kingston V300) after a factory reset (it all fit neatly on there, it made the SSD in two partitions similar to my HDD, and there's still plenty of rooms to install... programs. Let's be fair here and call them games and a few other programs I use often).
2) I can run windows now both from my SSD and HDD, both seem to be doing fine. The SSD is, of course, incredibly fast. So fast it has been an issue to hit the BIOS-button in time to open it (but that may have been me). A good sign! Anyway, this is not the problem on my end.
3) When I run the OS from my (internal) HDD I can see the SSD, which looks like an exact copy of my HDD (with the same files, partitions, etc.). However, when I run Win8 from my SSD (on which the clone is), I cannot see my HDD. It doesn't show up. I found installed drivers for it, but not even disk management shows it. The SSD and HDD do have different letter-assignments (A: and C: respectively). On a side note, I uninstalled the HDD driver in an attempt to fix it, but can still boot from it and it still shows up as usual... but in the configuration of the hardware list (even with "hidden devices" enabled) it doesn't show up as installed.
4) Both drives are recognized by the BIOS (this enables me to chose where to boot from, too). This makes me feel that the problematic end is on Windows itself, refusing to recognize the internal (manufactorer-installed) HDD when booting from the SSD. It's a Western Digital "Black Edition", I believe. I updated the "drivers" for my BIOS. Didn't change a thing.
All I want to do is format the pre-installed internal HDD and use it for data storage. I would have gone for a clean install of windows, but my laptop does not provide the correct product key (datamined, no sticker present) for windows 8 (or 8.1 for that matter, in fact, contrary to what I read, they are the same here). This means I cannot make a "legal" windows install disc, because windows refuses my product key.
Currently I'm trying to use a win7 or win8 install disc, possibly not procured entirely legal, just so I can run the winPE to format the old HDD. Then close it. No idea if that is going to work, but I'm running out of solutions for what seems to be a frustrating problem (recognized in BIOS but not in Windows 8).
So, where have I gone wrong? Keep in mind that cloning looked like a very interesting solution, because I couldn't access a useful windows product key to just do a clean install, which I would have much preferred. I also discovered windows internet explorer comes with its own product key. That's like a one-time key to download a different browser!
My windows 8 came pre-installed and is entirely legal. I prefer to keep it like that. All data is backed-up and/or moved to my external HDD.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram